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MINOR MISSIONS 


IN 


BURMA 


By REV. EDMUND F. MERRIAM. 


LYON MEMORIAL, BHAMO 


BOSTON 
AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSIONARY UNION 
1896 


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MINOR MISSIONS IN BURMA. “\, 


ALTHOUGH the principal efforts of Baptist missions in Burma 
have been exerted among the Burmans and the Karens, mission- 
ary operations have been gradually enlarged so as to reach nearly 
all the numerous races in that country, which are said to num- 
ber as many as forty-seven. Separate missions are maintained 
among all of the principal races which are important enough 
to be mentioned by name in the census report of 1891, with 
the exception of the Chinese. The numerous minor divisions 
of the people of Burma are allied to one or another of these 
principal races among whom missions are maintained, and so 
are in some degree reached by the gospel of Christ. 


THE SHAN MISSION. 


The Shans are in number the third race in Burma. In the 
census of 1891, the whole population of the province is given 
as 8,057,558, of whom 6,129,182 were Burmans and Talaings, 
and 663,657 were Karens. The Shans numbered 582,655, of 
whom 94,302 were in Lower Burma, 112,492 in Upper Burma, 
and 375,961 in the tributary Shan states. They are the Bur- 
man branch of that great race, perhaps the most numerous in 
southeastern Asia, called by the general name of Tai, and 
speak dialects of the same language wherever found, so that 
persons who have learned the Shan language in Burma can 
easily travel and converse with the people in Siam, in the 
Yunnan province of China, or among the Khamtis of Assam. 
In Burma the Shans are the travelling traders of the country, 
and every year large numbers come down from the Shan states 
bringing herds of ponies and large quantities of the products 
of Shanland for sale. They have no independent government 
of their own, but are divided into principalities governed by 
chiefs called sawbwas, and they are again subject to the 
authority of the lands where they live, whether in Burma, 


9 


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4 


Siam, or China. They are an active, intelligent, and enterpris- 
ing people, occupying many positions of trust and responsi- 
bility in Burma, and the British government continues to govern 
the Shan states through their sawdwas, to whom much inde- 
pendent action is allowed. In religion the Shans are Buddh- 
ists, and those in Burma are excessively bigoted and hard to 
evangelize, but it is stated that Buddhism has a less firm hold 
upon the Shans in the territory where they are most numerous. 


SHAN MISSION HOUSE, TOUNGOO. 


The Shans had attracted some attention from earlier mis- 
sionaries, but the first to be appointed to labor specially 
among them was Rev. Moses H. Bixby, who, with his wife, 
left America in December, 1860, and settled in Toungoo, 
where there were a large number of Shans who had recently 
been driven out of their own territory by the civil war raging 
in Upper Burma. ‘Toungoo remained the principal centre of 
the Shan mission for thirty years. From there Dr. Bixby 


5 


made many journeys into the Shan country, and did much 
to attract attention to that people, but on account of the un- 
settled state of the country he was not able to open mission 
work in Shanland itself. A small church of Shans and Bur- 
mans was formed in Toungoo and schools established for the 
people. The most important single addition which the Shan 
mission ever received reached Burma in March, 1867, con- 
sisting of Rev. J. N. Cushing and Mrs. Cushing and Miss 
A. R. Gage. Miss Gage gave herself to the study of the 
Burman language, as this was more important for work in 
the schools, but Mr. and Mrs. Cushing applied themselves to 
the study of the language of the Shan people. They had no 
books to help them, but they made such progress that after a 
time they were able to converse with the people, and imme- 
diately began the preparation of tracts and other literature in 
the Shan language. Mr. Cushing, with Rev. A. T. Rose, 
visited the western part of Shanland in 1867, and he has made 
many extended and hazardous journeys throughout the length 
and breadth of the Shan states, including those under the 
control of Siam, becoming thoroughly acquainted with the 
country and with the people. The knowledge gained in these 
journeys has been of immense assistance to the British Gov- 
ernment and in the development of the Shan mission, which 
has now found its true and principal home in the Shan coun- 
try itself. In 1869 Mrs. Cushing accompanied .her husband 
on an extended and perilous tour through the Shan country, 
as far as the Mekong River, which has now become the 
boundary between the French and British territory. They 
travelled over ten mountain ranges, some of which rise to a 
height of more than six thousand feet above the sea. On 
this journey they were seized, not by the Shans but by Burman 
soldiers ; their books were burned and they were sent out of 
_the country with threats. Having spent a short time in Ran- 
goon in 1869, in November, 1870, they made their home at 
Toungoo and strengthened the little church which had been 
gathered there. In 1871 the Gospel of Matthew and a gram- 
mar of the Shan language, the first Christian books to appear 
in that tongue, were published. 

The progress of the Shan mission in Burma has been marked 
by a singular fatality among the promising and able workers 


6 


who have been sent out. Rev. J. B. Kelley arrived in Burma 
in 1872, and was drowned Jan. 1, 1873, while on a journey in 
Shanland with Mr. Cushing. In 1879 Rev. B. J. Mix and wife 
joined the mission, but both were soon obliged to leave the 
country by the failure of their health. Miss Mary A. Rockwood, 
of Massachusetts, reached ‘Toungoo in 1880 and showed the 
most promising qualifications and abilities for an able and suc- 
cessful missionary, but after less than.two years of labor passed 
away from an attack of typhoid fever, a disease at that time 
almost unknown in Burma. Rev. A. J. Lyon arrived in 
Rangoon with his wife in December, 1877, but died within 
three months. The loss or able leaders greatly retarded the 
progress of the mission, but those who remained in the work 
continued to labor with great faithfulness. Mr. and Mrs. 
Cushing being compelled to return to America in 1874, again 
reached the field in October, 1876, and proceeding up the 
Irrawaddy River eight hundred: miles opened a station for a 
Shan mission at Bhamo. ‘They were delayed three weeks at 
Mandalay before an order could be obtained from the king of 
Burma, permitting their residence in Bhamo. As the little 
mission in Toungoo demanded attention and care, Mrs. Cush- 
ing went to take charge of the work there in 1877, while Mr. 
Cushing continued to labor at Bhamo. By these divided labors 
husband and wife preserved alive the bereaved mission to the 
Shans, and Mr. Cushing was able to introduce to the work at 
Bhamo Rev. W. H. Roberts, and also Rev. J. A. Freiday, the 
latter, however, returning to America after a few years of labor. 

The work of preparing religious literature in the Shan lan- 
guage pressed more and more upon Dr. and Mrs. Cushing, 
and in January, 1880, they removed to Rangoon in order to be 
near the printing press. The failure of Mrs. Cushing’s health, 
however, soon compelled her to return to America. In 1881 
Dr. Cushing saw the first Shan and English Dictionary through 
the press, and the first edition of the Shan New Testament was 
published in the following year. In January, 1885, the transla- 
tion of the Old Testament into the Shan language was com- 
pleted, and the whole Bible was printed in 1891. 

Previous to this time a movement had begun toward which 
all labor for the Shan-people had been directed. After the 
deposition of King Thibau by the English in December, 1885, 


~T 


and the capture of Upper Burma, Shanland itself became open 
to the residence of missionaries. Astationwas open at Thibaw, 


REV. JOSIAH N. CUSHING, D. D. 


in the northern Shan states. in 1890, and at Moné in 1892, 
Rev. M. B. Kirkpatrick, M. D., being the principal agent 1n 


8 


‘the first advance, introduced to his field by Dr. Cushing, 
whose intimate knowledge of the country has been of great as- 
sistance to the later missionaries. ‘The work at Moné, opened 
in 1892, is now under the charge of A. H. Henderson, M. D. 
In both stations medical work has occupied an important 


SHAN GIRL. 


‘place. Dr. Cushing having seen his great literary works 
completed in the publication of the Shan Dictionary and in 
the translation and printing of the whole Bible in the Shan 
language, was called upon in 1893 to assume the care of 
the Baptist College in Rangoon which is for the benefit of all 
races in Burma. 

The Shan Mission in Bhamo has always been conducted in 


9 


connection with work for the Burmans, bury sooth have been 
outstripped by the Kachin Mission which has shown such 
vitality and promise in that part of Upper Burma as to attract 
the chief attention of the missionaries. In 1893, however, a 
new station was opened by Rev. W. W. Cochrane, at Namkham, 
in the centre of a large Shan population. ‘This place is just 
across the river from the Chinese border, situated in a fertile 
and beautiful valley, and, apparently, is a most promising 
opening for direct and aggressive work among the Shans. W. 
C. Griggs, M. D., first at Moné, and later at Bhamo, has made 
his medical work an efficient ally of the direct evangelistic 
mission. Since the removal of the chief centres of the work 
to the Shan country, the Shan Mission in Toungoo has been 
consolidated with the Burman, and the 1895 statistics of the 
Mission, so far as it is separate from others, were: 12 mission- 
aries, 9 native preachers, 2 churches with 33 members. ‘There 
are, however, many Shans in Burman churches in Toungoo, 
Thaton, and other places. 


THE CHIN MISSION. 


By the 1891 census of India, 95,571 Chins were reported, 
of whom 67,667 were in Lower Burma and 27,904 in Upper 
Burma. It is probable, however, that the enumeration in 
Upper Burma is very imperfect and that the number is largely 
in excess of that given in the census. The Chins are found 
on both sides of the western Yoma range of mountains, which 
stretches from Arakan to the Naga hills of Assam. ‘Those to 
the south are more easily reached and more civilized, and are 
divided into four tribes using different dialects. ‘The Chins of 
the north are wilder, fiercer,and less known. ‘The language 
has been reduced to writing. It isa peculiarity of this people 
that in the Chin settlements near the Burman towns the women 
are tattooed on their faces, but farther in the interior, where 
they are in no danger of capture by the ruling race, this prac- 
tice is omitted and they are of fine appearance. The Chins 
are allied to the Karens and are nominally Buddhists, but 
have not abandoned their ancient superstitions which are 
similar to those of the Karens. They believe in a Spirit, the 


IO 


Creator and the Supreme Ruler of the universe, but they say 
that he is so good no one need fear anything from him, and 
they worship evil spirits to which they sacrifice fowls and 
swine. | 

The first convert from the Chins was baptized by Dr. Francis 
Mason, at Tavoy, Feb. 1, 1837. On removing from Tavoy 
to Henzada, Mrs. C. B. Thomas found Chins in the jungle 
near Henzada in 1854, and in that same year a number of 
Chins were baptized at Prome by Eugenio Kincaid. The 
first Chin assistant to be employed in the mission was at 
Prome, in 1863, and Rev. E. O. Stevens, for many years 
missionary to the Burmans at Prome, took much interest in 
the Chins, and baptized eight at the Henzada Karen Associa- 
tion in 1882. The Chin language was reduced to writing in 
1865, by a Karen from Bassein, and forty were baptized by 
him. In 1880 Mrs. Thomas had two Chins in her school at 
Henzada, and becoming deeply interested in the people, she 
travelled in the Chin country, reaching as far as Sandoway, in 
Arakan,in 1882. Rev. W. F. Thomas went to Burma in 1880, 
joining his mother at Henzada, and became deeply interested 
in the Chin people. Feeling called to work among them 
rather than the Karens, in 1884 he travelled extensively 
through the Chin country on both sides of the Yoma moun- 
tains, and baptized twenty-nine Chins at Gyatedau in Arakan, 
at which place the first Chin Association was formed. 

The most promising work among the Chins thus far was in 
southern Arakan. Mr. Thomas having visited Sandoway sev- 
eral times in journeys from Henzada, removed to that place 
and opened a station in 1888. Thus Sandoway, famous in 
Baptist missions in Burma in the early days of the Karen Mis- 
sion the headquarters of which were afterwards removed to 
Bassein, came again into the line of mission stations in Burma. 
The work among the Chins from the first was very prosperous, 
and there were 163 Chin Christians in 1889, and 111 were 
baptized in 1890. 

Rev. A. E. Carson, appointed. to labor among the Chins, 
made a tour in the Chin country east of the Yoma Mountains, 
accompanied by Rey. W. F. Thomas, and opened a station at 
Thayetmyo in 1887. From this point he made many exten- 
sive journeys into the Chin country to the northwest, up the 


eu 


valley of the Chindwin River. The Chins are very numerous 
all through this territory, which offers a most favorable field 
for the further extension of the missionary work. 

In March, 1892, Mr. Thomas was transferred from Sando- 
way to the charge of the Burman Biblical Institute in Rangoon, 
which has now become the Burman Department of the Theo- 
logical Seminary at Insein. He was succeeded in the Chin 
work at Sandoway by Rev. Ernest Grigg, who made extensive 
journeys in the Chin country, especially to the north, and 
opened up much territory for missionary work which had been 
closed since the-early days of the mission in Arakan. In 1895, 
the Mission reported at Sandoway and Thayetmyo, 8 mission- 
aries, 25 native preachers, 17 churches, 547 members, and 16 
schools with 235 pupils. The future development of the Chin 
Mission must evidently be to the northward, along both the 
eastern and western sides of the Yoma Mountains, and will be 
greatly aided by the railway which the British government 
proposes to build up the Chindwin Valley, through the Chin 
country and Manipur to Assam. ‘The prospects for aggressive 
work in this direction among the Chins are among the most 
favorable which are offered for advance mission work in 
Burma. 


THE KACHIN MISSION. 


The Kachins being a wild hill people are not separately 
enumerated in the census of Burma for 1891, but are estimated 
to number several millions. They are found on the hills of 
northeastern Burma, extending over into China and Assam and 
north to Tibet, in the southeastern part of which they are said 
to be numerous. One tribe of this people call themselves the 
Chingpaus, and are the same as the Singphos of the south- 
eastern hills of Assam. Another of the principal tribes is 
known as the Kowrie tribe, and is numerous in the vicinity of 
Bhamo. ‘They are gradually crowding southward into Burma, 
and, as they go, displace the Shans and other people. They 
are related in race to the Karens, having some of the same 
songs, customs, and traditions, but the language, though similar, 
has so many dialectic differences that there can be no com- 
munication between the Karens and the Kachins without learn- 


I2 


ing the language anew. The Kachins are a wild and savage 
people. Robbery and murder are among their principal occu- 
pations, yet they practise in a rude way some of the arts of 
civilization. Their religion is very similar to that of the 
Karens, and, like the Karens, also, they have a tradition of a 
former revelation, which was lost. Now they worship evil 
spirits, to which they sacrifice fowls, cattle,.dogs, and swine. 


KACHINS. 


The first opening of missionary work among the Kachins was 
by Rev. J. N. Cushing, who in 1877 visited the mountains east 
of Bhamo, and placed several Karen teachers from Bassein in 
the Kachin mountain villages. Mr. Cushing had arrived at 
Bhamo, Dec. 22, 1876, with a view to the extension of the 
Shan mission, but he also did much for the beginning of the 
Kachin work, an interesting feature of which has been the fact 
that during all the years since 1877 there have been from two 


13 


to five Karen foreign missionaries laboring among this people, 
wholly supported by the Karens in Bassein. Dr. Cushing 
introduced to the Kachin work Rev. W. H. Roberts, who 
arrived at Bhamo in January, 1879, and then returned to lower 
Burma to resume his own work for the Shans. The Kachin 
Dictionary or Vocabulary, begun by Dr. Cushing, was com- 
pleted by Mr. Roberts, who continued to be the leader in the 
mission among the Kachins. 

From the first the missionaries were well received and great 
interest was shown in the gospel by the Kachins. We are 
frequently reminded of the readiness of the Karens to receive 
the gospel, by the disposition shown by the wild and savage 
Kachins. Several were baptized each year, and the first 
Kachin church was formed in 1882 in the mountain village of 
Poombwa, where Rev. Speh had labored for five years. Eight 
were baptized in another village the same year and a Kachin 
spelling-book was prepared in 1883. 

The year 1884 was a dark time for the mission... Wild 
Kachins and Chinese freebooters captured Mogaung and 
threatened Bhamo during all the summer of that year, and 
finally captured the city in December. All Europeans, in- 
cluding the missionaries, were obliged to flee to Lower Burma. 
But in less than a year Mandalay, the capital of Upper Burma, 
had been captured by the British, King Thibaw sent into 
exile, and all Upper Burma was open to the safe prosecution 
of the missionary work. Bhamo was reoccupied, and at the 
close of 1885 the mission numbered four Kachin preachers 
and twenty-three church members. Rev. Ola Hanson, sent 
out for the special purpose of reducing the Kachin language 
to writing, reached Bhamo in 1890. ‘Twenty-three Kachins 
were baptized in 1891, and in 1892 such progress had been 
made in the language that twelve Kachins could read and 
write in their own language, the first among this numer- 
ous people to acquire that accomplishment. ‘The Gospel of 
St. John had been translated, and also a catechism and 
hymn-book, which were printed by Mr. Hanson at his own 
cost. 

In 1894 Rev. George J. Geis joined the mission, and after 
residing at Bhamo for a time, opened a new station at Myit- 
kyina. In the same year the work of reducing the Kachin 


14 


language to writing was practically completed, and a system 
of printing the Kachin in Roman letters which had been pre- 
pared by the missionaries, was accepted by the government of 
India, another illustration of the aid which missions afford to 
civilization. The translations which had already been made 
were revised in the Roman characters and were placed in the 


A STREET IN BHAMO, 


hands of the printers. In 1895 there were five missionaries 
laboring among the Kachins, with several Karen missionaries - 
from Bassein, four native preachers, one church at Bhamo 
with one hundred and twelve members, and a thriving school 
with seventy-three pupils. For the use of the mission a good 
chapel was built at Bhamo, and called the “ Lyon Memorial,” 
in memory of Rev. Albert J. Lyon, whose early and lamented 
death was such a blow to the mission work at Bhamo. 


15 


OTHER RACES. 


Among the smaller of the numerous races into which the 
people of Burma are divided, one of the most interesting is 
the ‘Taungthus. ‘They are supposed to be earlier inhabitants 
of Lower Burma than either the Burmans or Talaings, and are 
most nearly related to the Pwo Karens in language and char- 
acter. ‘They are widely scattered over Burma and the Shan 
states, and in Lower Burma number 35,220, settled princi- 
pally around their old city of Thaton. The census gives 
5,895 in Upper Burma. The Taungthus are a simple, timid 
people and buddhists in religion. They have a written lan- 
guage and are gradually becoming assimilated to the Burmans, 
the latest census showing a slight decrease in ten years in 
Lower Burma. 

The first Taungthu convert was baptized by Dr. Judson 
about 1835, but no missionary has ever devoted his attention 
wholly to this people. A number of converts have been 
gathered especially in connection with the Burman work in 
Thaton, where Mrs, J. B. Kelley labored among them, but 
no Christian literature had ever been printed in their language 
until 1895, when Rev. Edward O. Stevens of Moulmein caused 
Mrs. Judson’s Catechism to be translated into Taungthu and 
printed asa tract. In the autumn of 1895 a Burman preacher, 
U Aung-Bwe, baptized several Taungthus in the Moulmein 
district near the Siamese frontier and hoped to be able to 
form a church. No separate church organization had pre- 
viously been formed amorfg them, although the Taungthu 
Christians are more numerous at Thaton than any other place. 

The Talaings were formerly the ruling race of Lower Burma. 
_ They are sometimes known as Peguans, and from them the 
’ former province of Pegu was named. Their kingdom at one 
time embraced a large part of Lower Burma. ‘Their language 
is entirely distinct, but the Talaings are gradually becoming 
assimilated to the Burmans in language and dress, so much so 
that they are identified with the Burmans in the census of 
1891. The only Talaings who now are known by that name 
are found in the vicinity of Moulmein and are supposed to 
number about 80,000. Considerable missionary work has 


‘ 


16 


been done among this people in various districts by the mis- 
sionaries to the Burmans, and Rev. Edward A. Stevens, D. D., 
prepared avocabulary of the Talaing language, which, however, 
was not printed until 1895 when it was completed and carried 
through the press by his son, Rev. Edward O. Stevens of 
Moulmein. Perhaps more missionary work has been done 
among the Talaings by Moung Reuben of the Moulmein dis- 
trict than by any other one. He has a good knowledge of the 
language and has preached much among them and baptized 
many who are now in the Burman churches of Moulmein and 
Amherst. 

There are more than half a million natives of India proper 
in Burma, chiefly Telugus and Tamils, and among these much 
missionary work is being done, especially at Rangoon where 
there is a prosperous and self-supporting Telugu and Tamil 
church, Also in Mandalay, Moulmein, Toungoo, and other 
places attention has been devoted to these people by mission- 
aries who were sent to labor among the Burmans or Karens. 
The Telugus and Tamils are the laboring and among the most _ 
enterprising people of the country. ‘They are getting into their - 
hands some of the activities of the principal cities of Burma, 
and they will well repay a larger amount of attention from 
Christian people. In 1894, Rev. W. F. Armstrong and his wife 
were appointed as special missionaries to this people, to labor 
as best they might among the large number scattered through- 
out the various cities of Burma. Mr. Armstrong was formerly 
a missionary to the Telugus in India under the Canadian Rap- 
tist Board, but entered English work at Moulmein in 1884, and 
having already command of the Telugu language, has become 
much interested in the people and is able to accomplish much 
good. But the field and opportunity among this enterprising 
people are vastly too large for the labors of any one missionary. 

All the numerous smaller races of Burma, like the Paloungs, 
the Padoungs, the Brecs and others are reached, in some 
degree, by the labors of missionaries to the Shans and Karens. 
Among the Brecs, who very much resemble the Karens in 
their general characteristics, an exceedingly interesting work 
has sprung up under the care of Rev. Alonzo Bunker, D. D., 
of Toungoo. The Paloungs are a most interesting people, 
occupying the high land west of Namkham in Upper Burma, 


—_—  e 


17 


and will be reached by the Shan missionaries from that station. 
They are said to have some resemblance to both the Shans 
and the Karens. 

Aside from all the work which the Baptist missionaries in 
Burma carry on among the natives, English services are main- 
tained in a number of the larger cities. There is an English 
Baptist church in Rangocn which is independent and self- 


PALOUNG WOMAN. 


supporting, and also a church in Moulmein of which Rev. 
F. D. Crawley, son of Rev. Arthur Crawley, formerly mission- 
ary to the Burmans, became pastor in 1895. Services are also 
maintained at Mandalay among a large and increasing English- 
speaking population in that city, and English preaching is 
held in other cities. 

From the days of Judson, Burma has always been recognized 
as peculiarly mission ground of American Baptists. No other 


18 


bodies have undertaken Christian work in the country except 
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, representing 
the High Church element in the Church of England, and the 
American Methodists, who have a few missionaries in Rangoon 
and Mandalay. So efficiently have the Baptists cultivated this, 
their earliest mission field, that Burma is more abundantly 
supplied with missionaries in proportion to population than 
any other heathen land. ‘The effort that American Baptists 
have thrown into their work in this peculiarly interesting coun- 
try has been largely blessed, and the missions in Burma are 
recognized as among the “ Miracles of Missions.”’ ‘There yet 
remains in Burma vast regions unevangelized, and the needs 
of the field as well as the prosperity already achieved bring 
heavy responsibilities upon the Baptists of America to whom 
this field in the providence of God has been so specially 
given. 


BURMAN BUDDHIST PRIEST, 


HILL PEOPLE OF BURMA, 


o> 7 6 LS & be Le 


A BABY ELEPHANT, ELEPHANTS PILING LUMBER, 


i 


oe. 


20 


"VUNG SOODNNOL ‘LYOA AHL WOVA MAIA 


